Red Rovers turn silver into gold

They finish second in the final relay, securing the Class 3A team title.

May 27, 2007|By Beth Hudson Of The Morning Call

Check out the photo gallery from the state meet at mcall.com/extra

Jessica Dorsey wasn't sure what came over her while she was running the second leg of Easton's 1,600-meter relay.

When she grabbed the baton from lead runner Abbie-Dubin Rhodin, the Red Rovers were at the back of the pack, but Dorsey began to pass the girls ahead of her. By the time she handed off to Allyse Barlow, Easton was at the front.

"I usually die at the 350 [mark]," Dorsey said. "I just kept going this time. I just wanted to catch up and maybe win the state title. I just wanted to get the lead and maybe Chanelle [Price] could hold on."

Price, Abby Schaffer and Easton's 3,200 relay team won gold medals on Saturday at Shippensburg University, but the team's most dramatic finish came in an event it didn't win. The Easton girls wrapped up the Class 3A team title at the PIAA Track and Field Championships by earning a silver medal in the 1,600 relay, the final event, and finishing with 38 points, two more than second-place Methacton.

Easton and Methacton went into the relay tied for second with 30 (Laurel Highlands was leading at that point with 31, but didn't have an entry in the 1,600 relay). Easton's task was straightforward: Beat Methacton, win the championship.

Appropriately, the two relays were virtually tied after three legs, so it came down to Easton's Chanelle Price (the 800 champion) and Methacton's Ryann Krais (the state champ in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and long jump) on anchor. Harrisburg crossed the finish line first, but second-place Easton (3:51.56) beat third-place Methacton (3:53.16) by more than a second.

With that, Easton secured its formerly elusive team title (the Red Rovers finished one point behind the team co-champions in 2006), and the girls gathered to celebrate in the middle of the infield at Seth Grove Stadium.

Of course, they wouldn't have been in that position without the three gold medals they claimed earlier in the day. It all started with Barlow, Dubin-Rhodin, Jenna Liew and Price combining to win the 3,200 relay in a team-best time of 9:09.43.

Then it was Schaffer's turn.

The junior came into states as the top seed in the pole vault and lived up to that billing by clearing 12-6 to win the championship. It's been that kind of year for Schaffer, who also won titles at the Penn Relays, the Lehigh Valley Conference meet and the District 11 championships.

"It means a lot," said Schaffer, who's been reaching 12-6 consistently. "I'm just really excited because I've been working so hard. I've been working with Coach Mike Lawryk at Vertical Assault for a while. I've been hoping at some point it would all come together. It's been a really good season."

Price, another junior, came within four-tenths of a second of breaking a PIAA record in the 800.

On a hot, humid day, she blazed through the first 400 meters of her race in just over 59 seconds and won her second consecutive PIAA title in 2:05.85 (second-place Kelly Langhans of North Allegheny was almost five seconds behind Price). Still, for at least one more year, Kim Gallagher's 1980 mark of 2:05.47 will stand.

Other athletes had stellar weekends as well: Pocono Mountain West senior Anita James finished with three silver medals (in long jump, triple jump and the 400 relay) and a sixth in the 200 dash.

Nashanti Iglesias, Ianne Payne and Brooke McDaniel joined her on the relay, which finished in a personal-best 48.01 behind first-place Harrisburg (47.60).

"I didn't want to let my girls down," said James, who ran anchor. "They messed up one of their handoffs. We got our best time. I don't know how we did it -- running against great people, I guess."

Tamaqua's Casey Wagner earned a fourth-place medal in the 2A javelin, and Pennridge's Maria McKenna took eighth in the 3A 800. In addition, Bethlehem Catholic won medals in two relays: fourth in the 1,600 and seventh in the 3,200.